Volume 14, Number 4 Article by Jayaprakash Narayan December, 2002
Tackling Corruption and Promoting Accountability :
Ethics in public life in India has to take cognisance of the issues of corruption, lack of transparency and accountability. Dr Jayaprakash Narayan, National Coordinator of the Lok Satta movement holds that enlightened public opinion and informed and collective citizen assertion are the basis of a successful fight against corruption. The specific strategies he suggests are: comprehensive electoral reforms to make election funding transparent and accountable, to curb criminalisation and polling irregularities, and to ensure that honesty and survival in public office are compatible; empowerment of local governments and stakeholders in a way that there are clear links between citizens’ vote and public good, taxes and services, and authority and accountability; instruments of accountability in the form of right to information, citizen’s charters, independent crime investigation and independent anti-corruption agencies; and making corrupt behaviour unacceptable by ensuring speedy justice, exemplary punishment and confiscation of assets. Lok Satta’s success in eliminating short delivery of petrol and publishing of candidates’ criminal records in Andhra Pradesh are efforts in this direction.
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